East Bay Veterinary Specialists & Emergency

Reviews 5

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Samir Haddad

Horrible place. Dont take your dog here unless you want to be overcharged for a job thats not even done. I took my dog here over Columbus Day weekend at the recommendation of my vet. She had what was suspected as a splenic mass but my vet wanted a formal ultrasound before surgery. I went in with my two toddlers because my husband was working and was there around three hours. I didnt mind that as it needed to be done, but waiting with kids is always an added difficulty. Dr. Hamm was nice and answered all of my questions which were in abundance. She made sure to let me know that they arent usually able to squeeze people in for ultrasounds, so dont expect it in the future, but they could today. I was appreciative and when the time came for her to have her ultrasound the whole thing took under three minutes. I even said, "wow, that was fast!" She explained that they didnt have to shave her, but it just seemed way too quick. They said it was indeed a splenic mass and that I should proceed with surgery with my vets office but printed me out an estimate for their office if my vets office couldnt do it within the week. My vet was able to do the surgery that Tuesday and I got the dreaded phone call. It wasnt a splenic mass, it was everywhere with adhesions everywhere. My vet looked very sad and uncomfortable and asked, "they told you this was operable?" She apologized for sending us to get our ultrasound here and we had to put our dog down mid surgery. It took me months to be able to call East Bay Veterinary and discuss this with them. I asked to speak with a manager and the receptionist seemed very uncomfortable. She asked my name and what it was in regards to and put me on hold to speak to her. Suddenly she was "out of the office" (in a very obvious lie). She said she would have her call me back the following day. I was very put off by this and called back with a blocked number and suddenly she was available..... I spoke to her a few days later when she called back and she was nice enough, and said she was not a doctor and that it needed to be discussed with them. Wasnt overly sympathetic but tried to be. She assured me there would be a call back in a timely manner. I received a call back on Christmas Eve from Dr. Nurri (sp?). He informed me that my vet was "wrong" several times and that a board certified surgeon would have been able to resect the tumor and he didnt know why our vet couldnt but they certainly didnt make a mistake. I explained best I could that the ultrasound should have taken longer, if it had they would have seen what needed to be seen. He informed me that it "did NOT take only three minutes, you dont know what youre talking about. We do this all the time. " So if you want a place that is immune from mistakes, squeezes you in for an ultrasound they dont have the time for but will charge you $400+ for, will suddenly have people "out of the office" when you want to speak to the people in charge and will talk down to you and tell you that "you dont know what youre talking about" after interrupting you the entire conversation telling you that your vet is wrong and they couldnt have done anything wrong even though they werent there, then this is the place for you! Seriously, if you love your pet, stay away.

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Chadwick Meyer

It seems like a very nice place with good service, but like a lot of medical practices these days (e.g. dentists, doctors, and now evidently common with vets too), they use the "highest level of service" argument as an excuse to up sell their customers for services that are not wanted or needed. And they try to make you feel like a bad person for not wanting their extra service, and in many cases they will not even perform a basic service unless you agree to the extra unnecessary examination. For example, I was told it would be $50 for a one year followup dog Rabies vaccine, so we went into the office and the doctor looked at the dog for less than a minute and gave the injection. I was then charged $150 because they did an "examination" since they hadnt seen the dog that year. This extra charge was ridiculous because my dog was clearly very healthy, and no extra service was given that wouldnt have already been included in the cursory glance to determine it was safe to give the Rabies vaccine, i.e. the dog wasnt visibly sick (and didnt have a reaction to the last vaccine). And if they are going to do an extra physical exam, they should have notified me and had me agree to the extra charges before they were administered. At the checkout they refused to drop the charges. I hassled with them for three months before I could get a manager to return calls or emails. They finally dropped the charges after a lot of drama. But I dont care for this attitude that you cant give a dog a vaccine without charging an extra $100 for a 30 second examination, even if I sign a waiver. Its just a way to make extra money.

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AV P

Great place, friendly and knowledgeable. The board certified surgeon worked on my 200lb French mastiff and resected a 5lb mass off his bladder. For those of you who are interested heres an update on Hoochs condition: On Tues day 12/11 Hooch underwent surgery to remove a large mass in his abdomen. It ended up being attached to his prostate, bladder and colon. The mass ended up being the size of a softball and a half weighing in around 5lbs. It had cut off the circulation to his bladder and was slowly killing it. The surgeon said he had days to live if it was left in there.... Today Hooch is happily lounging around the house eating, drinking, peeing and pooping yay! Were on the road to recovery. But due to the manipulation of his bladder he was left incontinent. He now wears a diaper for the time being until his bladder is able to return to normal function (Drs hope in a few days or so). Thanks to Trupanion (his dog insurance) they paid 90% of his $5,000 procedure that saved his life :) Happy Holidays Everyone :)

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A Private User

We were charged alot for service. I feel they are good, but over priced. Told they were open til 8pm, we call for an appt and they charged us the emergency fee appt when we showed up, we were there at 630pm. The emergency fee is the same rate they charge people after 8pm as they are e-vet too. The Dr was good, but gave us very bad info. He told us the Dr in the Am would call back to give info on labs, but we had to call and didnt get an answer til 1pm! Then they set us up with another appt for Monday (a week after hes been seen) to see specialist, even though the Dr we saw said thers no treatment. Kinda sounds lke they are trying to get more $$ before our dog dies... :(

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A Private User

I have had horrible experiences with vets and have always regretted taking in my pet once I got there. With Encina Vet they are always honest and want to make sure you know all the facts before you make any decision. Our cat is only two years old and has always been sick since she was a baby kitten. The first time we went in to civic feline center in walnut creek, ca they tried to put her down, we decided to get a second opinion thank god and went to encina. They gave her options instead of just trying to kill her and ended up saving her life! Please take my word they truly care and dont just want your money!

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